FastPass+ Timing Strategy

[MrPeetrie]

Yes. Yet another FastPass+ question.

My window opens up in FIVE days. Those of you that have done this already, what was your strategy.

Did you:

a.) Accept all the pre-sets first, then go back and "fine tune" your selections. That way you were at least assured of having FastPass+ reservations for every day.
b.) Go through, day-by-day, starting on Day One of your stay and trying to make that day perfect before moving on. Then adjusting Day Two and then Day Three and so on.
c) Jump right to the day you really wanted (Say Day Four Soarin'), then jumping around until you had your trip in order.

I'm asking because I don't know how fast the availability disappears. We will be in the Magic Kingdom on Day One, as well as Day Eight. I'd like to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride, plus my daughter would like to see Anna & Else. Should I try to get them for the first day at MK? Or is it your belief that, since others arriving up to a week earlier have already been allowed to reserve that day already, I'll be wasting time and I should try for Day Eight right off the bat. I'm afraid if I waste too much time, trying a fruitless effort to get passes for rides already reserved, by the time I attempt to get FastPass+ reservations for Day Eight they will be gone, too.

And I making too big a deal about this?

[Fangorn]

And I making too big a deal about this?

IMHO, yes.

With the notable exception of the whole Anna & Elsa thing, my experience (3 trips since October) has been: worrying about being on your computer at the stroke of midnight (or 9pm here on the West Coast) is completely unnecessary.

Breathe in, breathe out.

If A & E are on your must do list, go for that first. You may not get it the first day of your trip, but if you're flexible, you should be able to find a slot. When you put in your choices, you'll get 4 sets of options. If any of them contain A&E, grab the set (or the one that fits your time schedule best if you get more than one set with A&E). This will secure A&E. Everything else will be changeable - even 7DMT.

I have had no problems getting everything we wanted and without doing it all at midnight at Window opening, or even on the first day. We're taking our granddaughter in 42 days. I made a few fp on day one but late in the day, not at midnight. Got everything. Tweaked things over the course of the next week, and I was able to change everything, including Soarin', 7DMT, and TSMM to virtually any time I wanted. Last week, the lovely child decided that she did want to meet A&E after all. Even at 47 days i was still able to get one. It was for the second to last day of the trip, but I had a choice of several times and I could have actually changed it the next day if I'd wanted to.

On our two previous, we've had no problem tweaking times or completely revamping our plans the day before, and often the morning of. The exception here is 7DMT. It's still possible to get it on short notice, but your chances aren't as good as everything else.

Besides A&E, the other thing that goes very quickly is the fp for the parade and for Wishes. The viewing areas for these have a very limited capacity, so if that's important to you (personally, i think fp for those is unnecessary) go for that early as
well.

BTW, I just checked, and I'm able to change times for every fp I have except the one for A&E. Even 7DMT came back with times covering more than half the day on 2 separate days.

I hope this helps you rest a bit easier. All fastpasses do not disappear instantaneously at 12:01am

Breathe in, breathe out.

Steve

[tjstrike]

I usually coordinate my FP+ with my ADR's, or if I don't have ADR's I've looked at park hours and EMH to determine which park I will be at and set them up that way. As was stated earlier, the only ones that go quick are 7DMT, parades, wishes and character meets.

[MrPeetrie]

Fanghorn, you actually did make me feel better. I was afraid this was as difficult as getting highly sought-after ADRs. Thanks!

[azcavalier]

Our window opened yesterday, and we didn't even realize it until we got an email late in the day telling us that we could book our FP+s. So, yesterday evening my DW and I sat down and went through all eight days booking stuff. We were worried that we'd have a hard time getting the 7DMT, but we didn't. The only think that we simply couldn't get was the Anna & Elsa Meet 'n' Greet, and we're OK with that.

When we went in January, we had to be up at midnight to get good times, we thought. Also, for the January trip, since we had APs, we had to get up each night to do it. What a pain. It was nice to be able to just book the whole thing in one sitting last night.

[AvonleaCF]

On my day, I started selecting around 8am Eastern. I had a vague idea of which park on which day. I started by taking the pre-selected schedule and then fine-tuned after. I had no problems with availability nor the system; just problems with how they tier the rides in Epcot and HS. :) And of course stressing if I made the right choices and doing morning vs. afternoon, etc. But now that I've had them for about 2 weeks I'm not allowing myself to tweak or stress or worry about what I chose; usually my first instinct is the best.

Good luck!

[snowflakegirl]

My schedule was crazy with end of year stuff (I work at an elementary school) when our FP+ window opened...because of that it ended up being two or three days later that I finally was able to slow down and take the time to look at my FP. I was able to get everything we wanted at reasonable times (caveat: we did not get one for 7DMT, however I saw several options for that if we had wanted to, and we did not get one for Anna and Elsa...that one I did see go quickly). I have gone back in a few times since then to make a few minor changes (booked a tour and needed to adjust FP times accordingly etc) and always had several options for the ones we had chosen.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I feel for you. I was really stressed the first time that I did this in March. I found out that it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Foremost, make sure your My Disney Experience account is set up completely. This makes it loads easier for booking FPs.

I just booked the rides I wanted as they were presented and modified the times once I had all the ones I wanted. It was a lot easier than I thought. And I was still able to book FPs several days later without a problem.

Just keep swimming - you'll be fine! :thumbsup:

[MrPeetrie]

Thanks for all the advice. As most of you said, I made too much out of it. Except for Anna & Else, which wasn't available until day 8 of our stay, I got pretty much everything I wanted and at (or near) I time I desired.

Modifying FastPass reservations was easier than I expected. I basically selected the option that was closest to what I wanted, then went in and moved things around as I saw fit. We got Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride (twice) at times that were convenient. I managed to get a FP for Pirates on the Day it re-opens!!!

All in all, it seemed to be pretty intuitive. Hopefully, the days will go as I have them "Imagined" in my mind today.

Thanks again!!!

[Fangorn]

Glad you got evening you wanted.

Steve